How Jack Bauer Almost Died in 24’s Series Finale

I expected Jack Bauer to die. I had only watched 24 for a short stretch during season six, but something told me that Jack Bauer was finally going to bite the bullet (or get bitten by the cougar). But, after the last hour of Day Eight rolled around, we realized that Jack was going to survive. While that was a bit of a creative bummer (poetic justice for the watercoolers!) that made sure the series finale was pretty non-notable, 24 producer Howard Gordon has revealed that a scene was indeed written for the finale, but just never came to fruition.

“I… wrote that scene and in the end it felt too depressing,” he told Assignment X. “I think it would have been a really depressing moment [and] I don’t think it would have been surprising. In a strange way, [Jack’s death is] probably the ultimate tragedy and probably the most politically correct ending, but it wasn’t something anybody wanted to commit to.”

Hm. I suppose I can see where he’s coming from on that. It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t, choice, and he went for what he saw to be the lesser of two evils. I sort of hate it for 24 that it ended in relative anonymity (a little show called LOST has controversially come to a close the night before).

What am I saying? Killing Jack would have cut off all options for a movie!